Grey Panthers 1999

After spending part of the year being Auspiced by Brown’s Mart Community Arts in 1999, the Grey Panthers returned under the umbrella of Tracks Dance (now incorporated).

There were several performance projects this year.
Beginning with Emergence the women learned traditional Papua New Guinea 'Yam' and 'Dragonfly' dancing as well as palm leaf weaving with Paia Ingram.

Recollections was an intergenerational, multi-media show co-produced with Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, exploring the links that our seniors have with their memories and the use of various technologies and techniques to enhance this. 'History Repeating' was created to to a track by Shirley Bassey and the Propella heads, and was made for this performance.

Next up was Reluctant Retirees, a full length work for and by the Grey Panthers looking at the change in life from working to retirement. Additional repertoire was created through these performances including: '9-5' - Dolly Parton, 'Time' - Penguin Café Orchestra, 'Marching Routine' - I left my Job, 'Swimming' - Taking the Plunge, and 'History Repeating'.

Additional performances were for International Year of the Older Person - Palmerston, the Lord Mayor's Seniors Morning Tea, the Lions Club, the Arthritis Foundation, and the learning of military marching routines at the Robinson Barracks, Palmerston, with the Palmerston Older Adults group.

The work involved in the creation of Recollections was also used as the basis for a paper that David McMicken presented at the Art and Community Conference, held in Melbourne. The paper covered various aspects of the working processes used with seniors, the facilitation of community cultural development, memory storage units, intergenerational links, new practices that inform our future, as well as a senior's view on the role of new technologies.